My Perception
by Mensis Eclipse
Summary: After being captured on a training run, Donatello finds himself in a mental asylum as one of the institutions worst patients. At first convinced his captors are trying to trick him, things become less certain as Don discovers he's now a human, and starts having dreams of a very different past. He's slowly driven into madness as he tries to seek the certain truth of his identity.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE- **Well its been awhile since I've visited this archive. But with the lure of a new series, and new movie I couldn't possibly stay away! However I couldn't help but notice for some of the newer fanfics, the authors hardly ever specify which series they're writing for, 2012, or 2003. As a fan of both I find the clarification very important so I'll just say it now this is written for the 2012 universe. Which is a great opportunity because its a new series with the same stupid but oh so lovable premise! With that being said hope you all enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER- **Nickelodeon not I owns TMNT...Are we still doing these btw?

* * *

I was slower today than usual, and they weren't giving me any breaks.

We shouldn't have even gone on patrol tonight. It had been raining all week, and tonight seemed to be the big finale. I could hardly see the next building in front of me, much less my three brothers soaring through the rooftops with either enough confidence that they wouldn't slip, or enough apathy not to care. Either way I was cold, tired, and not looking forward to the grief Leo would give me for being so slow.

Mickey on the other hand, couldn't be happier as he performed yet another mid air flip with a loud cheer, despite the glares he received from Leo. Raphael came up behind him and lightly smacked him on the forehead.

"Hey Mr. Stealth, last one home is a dead sewer rat!" he challenged and speed ahead.

"Cute Raph, but I'm not giving you another five minute head start just so you don't throw a tantrum when I beat you again." he smirked and charged after him.

A groan escaped my mouth. I could usually tell once we started whether these training runs will go well for me or not. On a good day I'd be right up there with my brothers, imagining myself flying, and with enough energy to do the advanced acrobatics with Mikey. On a bad day me feet would start to hurt after the second mile, and by the tenth I would panting to keep within seconds of them. Today was a terrible day. On the first mile I lost my breath, and everything was throbbing by the third.

"Forget keeping up with them, I'd be lucky just to make it." I muttered under my breath as I tried to force more speed into now numb limbs.

Within the next mile, Mikey and Raph were completely out of sight, and I knew Leo had slowed down just to make sure I wasn't completely alone.

Finally he paused on a rooftop close by and waited. I didn't know whether to feel thankful or irritated. I never was the fastest of my brothers, but I certainly never lagged behind like today either.

When I could finally make out his whole figure, he was standing stiff with his arms crossed and glaring. Yep, definitely not feeling thankful.

"Donnie what's up? You're never this slow on training run."

Deep down I knew he was right, but I was far too tired and frustrated to admit it.

"Hey," I panted, trying my best to convey my annoyance, "Give me a break okay? I was up all night working on that retro mutantagne for Karai, plus its practically a monsoon out here! If we keep sprinting like this we'e gonna slip and plummet down a building!"

Leo raised an eyebrow, he was never one for excuses, "Donnie we've gone on training runs in weather a lot worse than this and as a ninja time management should always..."

I groaned again and rolled my eyes. Leo never missed an opportunity to be Splinter Junior.

"Okay, okay!" I interrupted, "If I speed up will you stop!"

I didn't even wait for an answer and ran ahead, anger being my new energy.

Anger, however, seemed to work as any other energy stimulant that night, giving me a great boost initially, but wearing me down just as much. This of course just only me even more frustrated. But instead of going faster I got clumsier, scrapping my feet on next to every landing I made on the buildings' edges.

Finally the neon signs of Mikey's favorite pizza place came into view and knew I was only a mile away.

Leo wasn't anywhere in sight now either. He must have past me some distance back.

Okay, they probably got back like ten minutes ago, and they're definitely gonna be on my shell about this for the rest of the night. But they don't have very long attention spans, if I bypass them as much as possible tonight they'll forget about it in the morning.

The thought almost gave me comfort, until I felt the top of my foot slam into the hard, concrete ledge of the building I was preparing to jump. Shocked and slow I didn't even have a chance to catch myself as I toppled off the building.

Falling face first, I resisted the urge to scream and whipped out my staff to try and catch it on one of the ladders for the fire escape. It banged against the dull black metal, almost catching for a couple of seconds, but then succumbing to gravity once again.

Desperate, I flung my body as close to the sides of the building to try and catch some kind of grip. I only however managed to get my leg impaled into a rusted piece of railing sticking out from the side. But by that time I had gained too much speed from the fall and the railing tore deep into my skin before I plummeted to the ground.

I felt the concrete slam into my thigh and a white hot pain sprang up my legs. I threw my hands over my mouth to muffle a scream of agony.

My whole body was shaking violently, my head throbbed and my thigh was burning like wild fire.

Too shaky to move and too pained to even think, I curled myself into as tight a ball as I could, for both camouflage and some form of fake comfort.

I stayed like that for a few seconds trying to slow my panting into long deep breaths. I couldn't do anything about the tears of pain dripping from my eyes.

I looked up, it was a good six story drop, so relatively speaking I was lucky. I felt anything but though as I imagined the ridicule being twice as bad when the guys had to come find me and carry me home. I'll never hear the end of it from Leo.

The sudden sting of my leg put that in the last of my priorities however as I realized I got cut so badly it managed to hurt more than a broken hip. The skin was torn straight off and I didn't doubt that the railing left some rusty residue. My leg was already soaked in blood, the cut was deep. The trip back home in flooded sewer water will most likely infect it, at the very least I'll have a good scar for months.

"Donnie!" a voice came from around the corner.

"Mikey!" I cried as loud as I could muster with my shaky voice, "I'm over here."

Forgetting my initial embarrassment, I could have cried in relief. Sure I was in for a tough night, but at least at home it was warm, and supplied tons of pain medication.

"Donnie I need you bro." he cried, his voice sounded more scared than mine.

My heart skipped a beat, "I'm coming Mikey hold on!" I cried feeling around for my staff.

Miraculously still in one piece, I put all my weight onto it and hoisted myself up. The pain nearly made me vomit but I sucked it up.

"Mikey," I whimpered, "I'm almost there, just one more second."

Using my staff as a crutch I hobbled around the ally as fast as I could. However it was too dark to see anything.

"Mikey, where are you?" I cried.

I only heard a grunt before a pole of cold metal slammed into my head and I collapsed into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

_God what a nightmare._

It was the first coherent thought I had in awhile. The second was,_ Man everything still aches._

Nausea hit me as a smooth wave as my head was pounded like someone had used it as a drum.

I roughly rubbed my face with my hand for some sense of comfort. I was still too sleepy to open my eyes. My hand felt strangely smoother than usual and also kind of warm.

I wiped my fingers across my forehead one by one.

One, two, three..._ four. _

My eyes snapped open immediately and my jaw hung agape.

The hand in front was pale and fleshy with five long and slender fingers attached to it.

Human.

All of my breath left my lungs as I widely scanned my body now human as well.

My arms were just as lanky and pale. My legs, which felt like they hadn't been used for months, resembled two crumbled up sheets of thinly sliced paper. I brought my hands up to where my snout used to be, but was now replaced by slightly jutted out cheekbones.

My fingers continued up my face until they ran through a matted mess of almond brown hair that fell just below my shoulders.

I began to hyperventilate.

My head felt more and more light headed by every passing moment. Or maybe that was just due to the fact that my body just felt so light. I could no longer feel the comforting weight of the shell on my back anymore, like someone cut my body in half. If I stood up I'd surely fall down with the lack of weight to steady myself.

My teeth clattered and my heart was pounding so hard it began to make my chest sore.

_How did this happen? Who did this to me? Was it permanent?_

The questions that surged through my mind only seemed to advance my headache into a migraine. I decided to shift my focus to my surroundings to ease myself.

I was in a cell lying on a cold metal floor. It was probably no bigger than your average pantry closet. A few feet in front of me were several rusted metallic bars jutting out of the high ceiling and impaling deep into the floor.

Behind me was a hospital bed with the white sheets being the only non grey color in the room. To my left was a small steel toilet and a slightly smaller sink. The room smelled of bleach.

The cell itself seemed to only take up a fraction of the much bigger room it was placed in. The room stretched out at least 20 feet from the cell bars, at the end of which there was a small grey door, humbled by comparison to the massiveness of the room.

The only light source came from a small window on the side of the room. The walls reached at least 30 ft and the rectangular window laided just below the roof. It was sky blue out there, meaning it must have been high afternoon.

_Okay,_ I thought trying to take deep breaths to calm myself before I went into cardiac arrest. _I've been gone long enough that my brothers will know to start to look for me. But how will they find this place? _My stomach dropped,_ How will they recognize me?_

The door creaked open and two people walked in. The first one, a man, was tall and well built, at most in his early sixties. He had shaggy dark grey hair that matched his eyes and slightly unkempt beard. He wore a long white lab coat that stretched to his ankles.

He walked with strides of confidence, his face wore a stern but curious look.

The other was a young women, most probably just out of college. She had curly auburn hair tied behind her in a neat bun. She wore light blue scrubs which were slightly more pale then her skin.

Her face was white and nervous, which made her piercing blue eyes stick out all the more. She walked a few steps behind what I assumed was what who was her mentor and lacking nearly all of his confidence.

I scrambled to my feet, an action which I had predicted, had me falling all over myself again. I threw my arms out to the bars for support.

"Who are you?" I cried, "Where am I? What have you done to me?" I had so many more questions, but I was still shaking so hard I could barely get out those few.

Both people stopped short in shock. The man's face then dropped to stern disappointment. The girl still seemed scared.

"Come now Daniel, must we go through this everytime?" he said in a deep gruff voice.

I raised an eyebrow, "Daniel? Whose Daniel?" I shook my head, it didn't matter, "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The man sighed heavily, "My name is Dr. Goldstein, and this," he said gesturing to the girl, "Is my apprentice Dr. O'Neil. We have been working as your psychiatrists for the last three years."

The answer took me off guard, to say the least.

"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before in my life!" I cried angrily, "Now tell me the truth!"

Dr. Goldstein's eyes narrowed, he seemed to be getting frustrated as well, "I am telling you the truth, you are a patient at the Hollows Mental Hospital, and one of its most serious cases if I might add."

I nearly groaned, what kind of idiot did this guy take me for?

"Enough with the stories," I ordered, "Tell me why you've locked me up."

"For your own protection and for the security of the patients and workers on the hospital grounds. You have a tendency to resort to violence during the relapses of your...episodes."

"Episodes?"

"Yes, your advanced case of schizophrenia includes symptoms of hallucination, paranoia, and occasionally bouts of bipolar outbursts that tend to lead you to, act out. You convince yourself that you are living in a completely alternative world, and deny the realities of your world so thoroughly that you actually manage to trick yourself into forgetting past events ever occurred in the first place."

I looked down at my hands, now stiff, trying to process everything he said. Episodes, hallucinations, schizophrenia?

I shook my head. This was nonsense, they were crazy. A different crazy from the krang or the Foot. Something sparked back to me.

"Y-you said I've been here for three years!" I panted.

Dr. Goldstein nodded.

I smirked, "But you see yesterday I fell off a building and I got hurt and..."

I gestured to my leg, then my body fell into a deep shun. It was completely healed. The scar was gone. I shouldn't have even been able to stand in the first place with a broken hip.

My entire body was shaking as I slowly looked back up to face them.

"Anymore questions Daniel?" Dr. Goldstein asked, crossing his arms.

I glared at him, "Yea, where are my brothers?"

The memories of that night came flooding back to me, running, falling, Mikey. If I never reached him they might have.

Dr. Goldstein and Dr. O'Neil exchanged concerned glances and turned back at me. Dr. Goldstein looked tired, and Dr. O'Neil gazed at my with sympathetic eyes.

"Your brothers are dead Daniel, your whole family is dead."


	3. Chapter 3

I felt like I'd been hit by a train.

The shock initially made me completely still and made my stomach drop hard. My mouth dried up like a drop of water on black pavement on a hot summer day. Then all the air left my lungs, as I forgot how to breath.

I stared directly at them, but couldn't see them. The pain before me was too much to bare. I'd drown in sorrow. It wasn't true, it couldn't be.

My legs were starting to give out from under me. I no longer had the strength to stand or the desire. But I knew if I curled up into a tight ball and mourned, I'd be accepting it. And I didn't have the strenght to accept it.

""Y-you're lying." I didn't know if I whispered or said it mentally, "You're lying you've been lying to me all this time."

Rage suddenly filled every pore in my being, "You're lying!" I screamed, "Tell me the truth! Where are they!?"

Dr. O'Neil turned her head, and Dr. Goldstein's face grew stern.

"Daniel, you and I both know this is the truth. And the sooner you accept that the sooner you'll move on."

Livid, I threw my arms in between the cell bars and seized the collar of his white lab coat.

"Why are you lying to me!? Who are you and what do you want from me!?" I bellowed.

I screamed at him louder and more angrily than I ever did in my whole life. Louder than when Mikey made a mess of my lab, and angrier when the Foot were cornering April.

My shoulders swayed up and down and I panted like I just finished running a marathon. Dr. Goldstein just seemed to have been waiting for me to get over it.

I glared with as much hatred I could muster into his eyes, but he remained stoic. Finally the pain left me and I released my grasp, and in the process allowed my body to sink to the floor.

I sat on the floor, hugging my legs, trying to keep those awful words from sinking in.

The next few moments were silent, until I heard footsteps receding to the door.

"We will give you some time to process this Daniel. Please feel free to talk to me whenever you're ready."

His words were emotionless as a wall. There wasn't even enough spite in them to make him seem as though he were mocking me. Something told me I'd be better off finding compassion within the Kraang than anywhere here.

The door slammed shut and I was completely alone.

* * *

You would think that once one found out their entire family was dead, they would cry. You may suppose they fall to the floor weeping, screaming in agony, or something to that effect. But they would be wrong. When you find out someone you love has died, you don't cry, you can't, or at east thats what I felt.

Crying wouldn't be enough.

I felt like an awful person, but I wasn't even sad. I was scared.

I was afraid of the pain that would inevitably come once I accepted I'd never see my family again. The massive loss and devastation frightened me, so I decided not to feel it.

Instead I swallowed my instinct to overreact . I took a deep breath and only let the rational thoughts in.

They have been lying to me all this time, its well more than possible that they're lying about this as well.

I looked to my leg and rolled my eyes at myself, if they can change me human they could definitely fix a broken hip and a scar.

I ran my hand over it. There was little to no chance I could catch them in their lie either. Whatever game they're playing the rules seemed to be more flexible in their favor than a rubber band. Even if I did catch something off, they'd never admit it to me. Or if they did, it wasn't like they'd just let me go home.

I'd have to play along.

That was the only means of escape. I groaned, but I had so much more to consider.

If they were lying about my brothers, then they may have them as well. They'd never admit to this either. And they could have changed them human too. I sighed, there was little to nothing I could do in this cell. But if I wasn't mistaken, mental hospitals don't keep patients in cells exclusively.

Maybe if I 'improved' my behavior, they'd at least allow me to roam around.

I felt my head fall back, but that was a pretty big maybe.

I wasn't sure how long I sat there racing all these plans in my mind, but it must have been a while since my stomach started growling.

I had foolishly skipped dinner the night before my brothers and I went on that training run in order to have more time to work on that retro mutagen. A decision I was now severely regretting.

The doors slid open and Dr. O'Neil walked in with a clipboard.

"Hi Daniel," she said softly, "I came to check on you."

She could have been April's duplicate, given that she was a little older. She had the same smile, the same stride, and overall the same demeanor. I found it comforting, even though I knew the last thing I should be doing is trusting anyone here.

"I'm hungry." I muttered, trying to sound as nonchalant as I could.

She smiled, "Well then I suppose its time you come with me to the diner."

She put her clipboard down and pulled out a shiny pair of handcuffs from the pocket of her lab coat.

I immediately pulled back.

"Sorry Daniel, it's protocol." She said, unlocking my cell door and stepping in.

I couldn't help but think of Raph, how he would never let an opportunity like this pass up. He'd probably charge her, take the keys and bolt out of here.

However that was where we were different. For now I'd have to mimic the hunter, as Splinter had instructed us to do many times, I'd have to wait in the shadows for my chance o strike.

I held my hands out so she could secure the cuffs.

"How will I eat?" I asked.

"We'll bring your food back here, I thought you could use a walk."

I swear I saw her blush.

* * *

As a former 6 ft, walking, talking, mutant turtle, I had very little experiences with nice places. I grew up in the sewers o New York for crying out loud. So as sad as it is to say, that mental hospital was the nicest place I've ever been.

The walls were tall and lined with glissening wood. The glass extended up two stories. Outside of them were the grandest mountains I've ever seen (and that was largely due to the fact that I'd never seen mountains in real life before).

The yellows and reds of the sunset painted the sky.

I couldn't help but pause and stare wide eyed at them. Dr. O'Neil paused too, and patiently awaited for me to finish.

"Hollows Mental Hospital strives to keep at prime living conditions for the benefit of all of its residents. We believe here a majestic environment can do wonders in restoring one's humanity."

I raised my eyebrow at this. I kind of wanted to tell her that a prison was still a prison, no matter how nice it was.

"So, Dr.O' Neil." I started, "I couldn't help but notice you share a striking resemblance to a friend of mine, and share her last name. Is there by any chance you know of an April O'Neil?" I asked.

She giggled and tucked her hair behind her ear, "Daniel, April is my first name."

"Oh..." I said, and fell silent, I wasn't quite sure what to think of that.

We continued on for a while without talking. And I was thankful for that. All of my attention went to scoping the surroundings.

For a mental hospital I noticed they sure had a lot of guards, two guarding each door, and not so many patients. I saw a few, but they were at least numbered one to four by the security. Also each and every guard gave us a look as we passed. My suspicions were only heightened.

"You sure do have a lot of security here." I muttered, I wondered if Mikey would be impressed by my acting skills.

"Safety here is our number one priority," she responded simply.

"Yea? And what exactly is keeping you from being safe?"

She stopped short and looked at me dead straight in the eyes, "Some of the patients here, though no fault of their own, can act...unstable." She put her hand on my shoulder, "Our only wish is to keep them from harming themselves."

* * *

There were more people inside the cafeteria, it was almost crowded.

It was divided into two rooms. The bigger had some nice booths, a full open view of the mountain side, and several of salad and buffet bars bordering the walls. This was where the workers ate.

The other room was about half the size, and consisted of three long tables, each packed with patients. The only light source was a shaking ceiling lighting that was flickering on and off.

The food didn't look nearly as appetizing, there was only one line, only serving some grey looking chicken and barely cooked rice. I felt my appetite run for cover.

As soon as we came in however I could feel all the eyes in the room looking up from their tray to us. I wished I had my shell back so I could just hide in it.

April grabbed a tray and ave me a sympathetic look.

"We tend not to get a lot of support financially, but we buy what we can, and sometimes ignoring quality for quantity."

I looked to the workers lunch room and glared, "Doesn't seem to be a problem for them."

After April had splattered the grey chicken, which smelled as bad as it looked, and rice, which made me miss slime and algae, she put her finger to her lip and snuck over to the workers room to grab the biggest loaf of bread and stashed it in her coat, then came back and hastily led me out of the room.

I could have laughed, not one person in there _hadn't_ seen what she had just pulled.

"I don't pull risks like that for just anyone." she smiled at me.

"Well don't I feel special, "I responded, in one of my fakest voices.

To give credit where credit is due, they played this game very well.

The walk back to my cell was silent as well I was probably the most cooperative ex ninja turtle they've ever encountered.

"Why am I locked up exactly?" I asked, as April finished securing the lock to the cell

She sighed heavily and looked up at me, "Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

I glared at her, "I told you, I fell off a building, then heard my brother and when I went over..."

"That never happened Daniel," she snapped, the looked at me in remorse, "I mean, you imagined that."

I folded my arms, "Okay then you tell me what happened."

It was slowly killing me to play along with their ridiculous games.

"Well after your brothers...passed, you were in mourning. Well melancholy's more like it. For two years you didn't eat, sleep or talk to anyone. You were one of our most reclusive patients, then you... snapped. You ran away one night, and were missing for three months. Finally a little over a month ago, we found you near death in the sewers. We brought you home and you've been recovering in a sort of trance ever since."

I tilted my head, sounded like one of those tragic backstories of a character on Master Splinter's soap opera series.

"How did my brothers die?" I asked slowly.

She stared hard at the ground and whispered, "Your father murdered them."


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE-** I wanted to first and foremost apologize for the delay in updating. A monumental tragedy has passed, one that I cannot express enough grief for. I had to go through a loss that really made it painful to come back to an archive so focused on family. So I would like to dedicate the rest of the story in his honor. It has taken me a lot of bravery to come back here, but I also now feel to use this story as a bit of an outlet, so please excuse some delays that may come in the process of completing this story. Thanks for understanding.

* * *

I sputtered, then burst into laughter.

It wasn't a hardy laugh, like the ones I shamefully give Mikey when he snorts milk out of his nose, but a cruel mocking one like those Stockman loved to give.

Dr. O'Neil looked...surprised.

But I didn't care. If I had any doubt before now I knew for sure they were lying. The idea was so ridiculous I completely expelled the idea of playing along with them from my mind.

"Daniel..." she started.

"I thought you did your research lady." I said in between laughs, "Our father loves us, he was the one who taught us to defend ourselves for crying out loud!"

Glaring, she thrust her arms into the cell and harshly grabbed my arms so I'd look her directly in the eyes.

"Daniel listen to me, convincing yourself that you actually live in these delusions will not ease the reality you reside within now." she said firmly.

I pulled my arms back and glared at her. I could feel anger flare within me. My father loved me, he loved all of us, there was _nothing_ she could do or say to convince me otherwise.

"Come on now April," I sneered with a twinge of mockery in my voice, "We both know who the crazy one here is. And I don't know what exactly your goal is by getting me to believe my whole life's been a lie, but I can assure you it will never happen. My brothers are alive and they will come for me, or if you have them, I'll rescue them, and we'll escape. No one has succeeded in keeping us captive before."

Okay, that was a complete Raph move, but the more I thought about her accusing Master Splinter of murder, the more infuriated I felt that they'd even consider that I'd believe them.

I looked into her eyes, they looked deflated. If I didn't know better I'd swear she'd burst into tears. She swallowed then looked at me apologetically.

"Daniel, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have had an outburst like I did. And I should have followed Dr. Goldstein's advice. You weren't ready for the the truth, and I had no right to tell you. Please forgive me." She said, and started to leave the room.

I didn't know what to say, I didn't even know what to think. She apologized, but not for the right thing. My anger died down but I still felt hurt, and foolish.

I almost had her convinced, and after all these people were beyond the most insane I'd ever meet. Whatever lies they told me didn't matter. They were only trying to break me. I couldn't let them.

She slammed the door before I could even attempt to fix things.

* * *

Living in a sewer complex with three brothers and a father used to make me treasure my alone time. I loved the quiet and just being able to think without any distractions.

Loneliness was probably the worst thing about the whole thing.

I'd trade every second of alone time I ever needed or wanted for the rest of my life so I could be with my brothers again. But lets face it, at this point I would have done anything just to know my brothers were _alive_ again.

I gulped hard, the slight possibility that that was possible was enough to make me shudder and feel sick to my stomach.

I once again pushed it out of my mind and let a new unsettling thought in, how did they know so much about my family. Okay granted they didn't admit to know that much, but she did know about three more mutant turtles and a mutant rat down in the sewers. Did Dr. O Neil and Dr. Goldstein know where we lived exactly?

I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes.

Stress was usually the most effective sleep inducer I ever came in contact with. Usually it'd come when I was hard at work on a project and I'd end up fighting it back with coffee or something to that effect.

Tonight however it was welcomed, as I let my raging emotions die down, and all my concerns melt away.

* * *

_Next thing I knew I was staring at my chemistry set back at my lab. The mutagen samples boiled in a beaker, while the rest of the desk was littered with notes and broken pencils._

_I slowly wiped drool from my mouth and tried to adjust my eyes._

_"Donnie dinner!" Mikey cried from the other room._

_I shook my head, "Coming Mikey!" I shouted back and shakily got up from the desk to go to the kitchen._

_My brothers, Master Splinter, and April all sat around the table which now had a freshly heated pizza atop it. My mouth watered and the smell brought a loud growl from my stomach._

_I didn't care, even when Raph and Leo slightly snicked as I hurriedly took my place in between Mikey and Master Splinter._

_I snatched the largest slice in the box, despite Mikey's annoyance, and prepared to shove it into my mouth._

_"How is your work going my son?" Splinter asked before I got the chance._

_I reluctantly put down the slice and looked turned my head down in guilt, "Well, okay I guess, but these things take time sensai," I looked up at him ruefully, "It's going to be a while."_

_Master Splintered sighed heavily, "I know you won't let me down my son. After all you're never the one to shirk from your academic responsibilities."_

_"I guess Master I..." I paused to process his sentence, "Wait what?"_

_Mikey pushed his chair towards me and flung his arm across my shoulders, "No worries bro, you've got this science fair in the bag!"_

_I shot him a weird look, "Science fair?"_

_Master Splinter glared at Mikey then spat, "You all should be following your brother's example, he practices discipline, integrity," the glare spread across the table, "What do the rest of you offer to deserve my praise?"_

_I turned red while my brothers looked down solemnly. I never heard him sound so cold. _

_"Come on father!" Mikey said, with joy that couldn't be settled for long, "We can't all be as smart as Danny boy!" he smiled and once again placed his arm around me._

_I flinched at the name and felt my stomach drop, "Mikey, what did you..."_

_"Daniel, Daniel." a woman's voice came before I could finish._

_"Daniel." she repeated, over and over again._

* * *

My eyes shot open and I woke up gasping. I put my hand to my chest to try and slow my throbbing heart.

"Daniel," Dr. O'Neil was standing outside the cell, "It's time for your first therapy session."

I pulled myself up and wiped my eyes.

"Therapy?" I whimpered.

"Yes, group therapy. Tested time and time again to be the most effective among treatment options." she said and entered my cell to cuff me once again.

I looked at her skeptically, "Are sure your group leader wouldn't mind having a felon in his clientele?"

She signed, "I talked it over with him and Dr. Goldstein, and we all agree that social interaction, especially with others going through the same issues, is vital to recovery."

Dr. Goldstein walked up behind her, "Yes, and research shows complete isolation is more often than not harmful in treatments."

I rolled my eyes, "You needed a study to tell you that?"

I followed them silently to a new room of the hospital. It had to be the most open.

The windows covered the majority of the walls, and what wasn't covered was painted bright blue. The radio softly played a classical station that filled the room.

The room was pretty much empty, except for a dozen or so chairs arranged in a circle.

The man, who I presumed to be the leader, was sitting in the middle and had his head lowered, studying the clipboard intently.

"Doctor Jones," April said as soon as we walked in, "Daniel is back."

The man looked up and had me frozen in my tracks, "Ahh Daniel, its nice to see you again."

Th resemblance was uncanny. The man sitting there was Casey. Same age, same voice, same person.

I broke out of Dr. O'Neil's grasp and rushed over to him, "Casey! What are you doing here? What's going on?" I cried in confusion.

Cas...Dr. Jones looked stunned, he sputtered speechlessly as I studied him as intently as I could. Something was very wrong.

"Daniel, this is Dr. Jones, he's been you therapy leader for nearly a year now." Dr. O'Neil explained calmly.

Dr. Jones glanced at her and gave me a weary smile.

"Casey its me Donatello! They somehow changed me human and..."

"Daniel calm down, " he interrupted, "I know who you are."

I growled in frustration and whipped around to face Dr. O'Neil and Dr. Goldstein, "What have you done to him? Why can't he remember me?"

Dr. Goldstein stepped forward, "He can remember you Daniel, you just can't remember him. He was your most effective therapist, well effective n the sense that he got the most reaction out of you... you actually never really took to him on a friendly bases."

I wanted to punch him in the face. And that was not a feeling I had about a lot of people. But whatever beef these maniacs had with me and my family, Casey had nothing to do with it. I felt a surge of guilt dragging him into this. And a even deeper one as I thanked shell that at least the real April wasn't part of this. Well as far as I knew.

"Now please sit down." Dr. Goldstein continued sternly.

I glared at him and knelt by Dr. Jones's ear and whispered, "I'll get you out of this, I promise."

He looked at me with confusion and pity. Funny I felt the same thing.

I took the closest seat next to him.

Dr. Goldstein left the room and Dr. O'Neil took her place in the background. I made sure to keep an eye on her.

"Well," Dr. Jones clapped his hands, "Here comes the others."

A small herd of people suddenly came through the door. Some babbling excessively, while others had their eyes glued to the floor.

I held my breath. Surely, if they had done to my brothers what they had done to me, they wouldn't put us in the same therapy group. I sighed to myself, even if they did I would probably be enable to recognize them for sure.

Once they were all seated I found myself once again doing a double take.

Karai, Bradford, Stockman, and Xever all sat in front of me, completely human.

I was at a loss for breath, and the absence of my staff really started to weigh down on me.

Was this their plan all along, get me alone in a room filled with my former enemies?

I stiffened, desperately trying to hide my panic, as I searched the room for some means of escape before things got any wilder.

"Come on Oroku Saki, you're holding up the rest of the group." the worker yelled to the other room.

Slowly but surely the Shredder emerged from the shadows.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE-** I think Oroku Saki's his first name...


End file.
